Trailer Tuesday: RoboCop

-

You know, I didn't hate last year's Total Recall, a remake of director Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi actioner. It's just that it was kind of bland - slick, superficial and soulless - when compared to the memorably distinct, brutal and dark comic book-y stylings of the 1990 original.

Now, frankly, I'm getting the same vibe from next year's RoboCop remake, which is also based on an R-rated Verhoeven classic from the same time period.


When the above trailer debuted online last Friday, public response was actually quite positive. People were intrigued at least. I, however, am not one of them. Despite the presence of a strong cast (Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L Jackson, Jackie Earle Haley and Jay Baruchel all appear in supporting roles), RoboCop 2014 looks like it has sucked out everything that made the original franchise-spawning film such a hit.

Chiefly, the new RoboCop just doesn't look fun at all. The original was gleefully over-the-top; an R-rated cartoon for adults. In essence it was a Frank Miller comic brought to life (out of interest, Miller actually wrote a script for RoboCop 2 and cameos in the film), set in a decaying future "sin city" where corruption, cynicism and graphic violence are the order of the day. This new RoboCop? It looks like every other post-Dark Knight serious actioner - slickly made, pretty to look at but dour and soulless. Hell, they have even completely omitted RoboCop's tough female partner Officer Lewis (played originally by Nancy Allen) from the sausage fest.

Oh, and did I mention the finished film is likely to be PG-13? Yeah, the new RoboCop is family friendly, right down to good cop and future cyborg Alex Murphy (played by Joel Kinnaman) falling prey to a car bomb instead of being dismembered by gang members.

Nothing is being done here to impress me. I hate the exposed human hand in the costume design, and then there's all the behind-the-scenes drama that has plagued the film's development, with acclaimed, edgy Brazilian director Jose Padilha apparently fighting severe studio interference every step of the way. That is never a good sign; neither is the fact that the movie saw its release date pushed back from a peak August date this year to early 2014 - a typical dumping period for the big studios after the busy festive season.

RoboCop opens in North America on 7 February. The movie is currently set to release in South Africa on the same date.

Meanwhile, the filmmakers have five months to really impress me, because right now I have no intention of watching RoboCop Lite. "Your move, creeps."


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov...
Read more

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Queer Icon (Part 4)

-
Image
Part 4: The mystery of Lara Croft’s sexuality “Now what’s a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?” – Larson Conway (Tomb Raider, 1996) Despite being an icon for many queer pop culture consumers, Lara Croft’s own sexual orientation remains ambiguous. Outside of the Top Cow comics and live-action films – where Lara is blatantly heterosexual, with a fondness for slightly scruffy bad boys (who keep betraying and hurting her) – the character comes across as primarily asexual. Kurtis Trent is the only male figure who even comes close to being a love interest in the game series. Lara's apparent sexual disinterest is despite the adventurer appearing very sexually attractive herself; a figure of desire with bee-stung lips, voluptuous breasts, toned stomach and impossibly long, athlete’s legs. Yet Lara is never dominated by sexual yearnings or romantic affections. She is very much in control of herself at all times. It’s worth noting, however, that over time th...
Read more

Ladies I Love: Part 2 - Rhona Mitra

-
Image
Following on from the first post in this series , you may realise that I have a very definite type. Anyway, today we profile model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra . This 36 year old Briton is of English, Irish and Indian descent. You'll have seen her pop up on the big and small screen multiple over the past decade and a half, although Mitra's claim to fame is that she was the second ever model (some say first if you rule out "unofficial"  Nathalie Cook ) to play iconic video game character Lara Croft . From 1997-1998, Mitra could be found in PR material, as well as at trade shows, events and conventions as a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Tomb Raider 's kick-ass archeologist lead. There have been many official Lara Croft models over the years , but as far as I'm concerned Mitra remains the best. In my mind, of all of them, she most closely resembles the video game character in terms of facial features. Plus she comes from money and had a rebellious boarding...
Read more